Mushroom and Bean Burgers from scratch

This is the actual name of the burger: 'Shroom-Kidney-Horse-Sage Burgers with Pesto smeared Hand Made Buns. :)

Sounds corny, I know. Who would've thought you could have them all in one sentence!

I desperately wanted to eat a burger! Having never made one from scratch, I thought it was apt specially because BBC's Good Food Magazine was launching and they'd asked us to come up with something that we've never done.

I hate the burger breads you get in the stores. The bread we get here is thoroughly refined and seasoned with lots of dough conditioners, improvers and preservatives. Let me tell you, once you make whole wheat bread at home, you will cringe every time you eat so called 'whole wheat' bread outside.

It had to be a veggie burger and I absolutely did not want to put potatoes in! Such a misconception the Mc Ds of the world have created!

Here's what you need:

For the Bread:

500gm Whole Wheat Flour
2 tsp Instant Yeast
2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Sugar
1/3rd cup oil
Warm water
Herbs of your choice (I used fresh Oregano and Thyme)
Sesame/ Flax Seeds (optional)

Mix all the dry ingredients.

Stir in the water and add till you get a nice workable dough. Add in the oil and knead for about 5 minutes.

Cover it with cling film and let it rest for about one and a half hours or till the dough is now almost double in size.

Preheat your oven now to about 180C

After that, punch the dough down and knead for another five minutes. Add in the herbs and make them into burger bun shapes but flatten the tops. Brush on some water and sprinkle sesame and flax seeds.

Let it rest for ten minutes and pop them in the oven for about 30 minutes till they are golden brown and sound hollow when you knock on them.

Notice the lack of sesame seeds? They all fell off because I brushed the top with oil instead of water! Nevertheless, a tasty burger bun.

For the Burger Patty:


1 cup horsegram (soaked for 4 hours and cooked)
1 cup Red Kidney BEan (soaked for 8 hours and cooked)
1/2 cup Soya chunks (soaked for an hour and bolied for ten minutes)
1 steamed carrot
(you can add other vegetables like steamed potatoes, peas, pumpkin, etc)


1 Onion diced
2 cloves of Garlic
1/2 a Red Pepper diced
15 Button Mushrooms diced
Fresh or dried Sage
Salt
Pepper
A Few sprinkles of Habanero Tobasco Sauce (Because i like it spicy)
A dash Soy Sauce
Oil or water for sauteeing

Saute the onion and garlic in oil or water. Add the Red Pepper, Habanero Tobasco, Soy Sauce and Sage. Add the mushrooms.

Mash the cooked beans with a potato masher. Cut up the soy chunks and carrot. Add them all in to the pan with the mushrooms and mix well. Take it off the flame and start making the patties.

Cook each side of the pattice on a flat pan or a grill till crispy and brown.

 The Assembly:

You need any or all of the below:

Pre-made Pesto (I use fresh Basil, cashew, salt, garlic and olive oil)
Jalapenos
Sliced Yellow and Green Peppers
Sliced Cucumbers
Sliced Tomatoes
Mustard
Ketchup

Assemble and enjoy!

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Pickle me up! - DIY Daikon n' Mustard Pickle

Who doesn't love pickles?! They could be sweet, salty, sour, oily and spicy too. All those lovely flavours in a jar. I've never really tried to pickle anything even though I love them and associate some lovely food memories with pickles. Of all the pickles a few of my favourites are a vegetable pickle my paternal grandma makes, the spicy mango my maternal grandma makes, a very north indian Carrot-Turnip-Cauliflower pickle which was sent to my room mate in Auroville and a very mustard-y Bengali Mango pickle made by Naturellement.

For two weeks in a row I saw giant White Radishes / Daikons (Moolis) in the market. And by giant I mean really big, like over a foot long. I couldn't resist picking it up. Having never pickled anything, I decided to use my memory of the taste of the Bengali Mango pickle and use the radish. I ended up with a huge jar of lovely yellowy radish pickle.

I must warn you though, open the jar of pickle in another room before serving it. The inital smell every time you open the bottle can put people off, but luckily that lasts only for a few minutes.

You need:

One White Raddish

1tsp Mustard Seeds (Rai)

1tsp Cumin Seeds (Jeera)

1tsp Fenugreek Seeds (Methi)

1tsp Aniseed (Sauf)

1/2 tsp Asafoetida powder (hing)

1/2 tsp Dry Mango Powder (amchur)

1/2 tsp Turmeric (haldi)

1tsp Red Chilli Powder

Salt

1/2 cup Oil

Wash and dry the radish. Cut it up into juliennes (long thin strips).

In a wok, dry roast the mustard, cumin, fenugreek and aniseed will they are fragrant. Powder them till they are fine. Once it is cool, mix in the asafoetida, dry mango powder, tumeric, red chilli powder and salt.

Add in the oil and mix it with the radish strips. A lot of pickle recipes I've read ask you to keep the jar in the sun for a day. I don't get too much sunlight at home, so I just left it out on the windowsill for the day and kept it in the fridge at night. By the next day, the radish had started fermenting and had taken on the wonderful flavour of the spice mix.

My sister, not a big radish fan, used the pickle gravy on another green chilli pickle I had made. This spice mix could go well with almost anything you want to pickle. You could try carrots, cauliflowers, peas, capsicums.

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South Indian Gun Powder

If you have ever eaten South Indian food, you know what I am talking about. Molagapodi (moh-lah-ha poh-dee) is often served with Dosas and Idlis, but actually it can be eaten with almost anything. It's a reddish-brown scary looking powder, served smothered in sesame oil, often known for being overly spicy. Every Tamillian household makes their own version of it and you will never find the same taste anywhere even if the recipe is the same exact thing because not only does it depend on who is making it, it also relies on the level of spiciness and colour of the red chilli depending on the variety, the amount of time you spend roasting every ingredient and your mood when you are making it!

Moplagapodi literally means 'chilli powder' but I think Gun Powder is a more accurate description. It's actually a very cleverly disguised powder containing lots of protein (lentils) and calcium (sesame). There are numerous versions of this powder but I like to use my grandmother's recipe simply because I really really like her gun powder (and I am not alone).

My granny's Gun Powder with Dosas

Best served with hot Dosas and Idlis, sesame oil is added to it to tone down the spiciness. I prefer it without the oil. Why would you want to tone down anything that is spicy! You can alter the level of spiciness depending on your capacity by adding the chilli little bit at a time.

This is the way my grandmother explained the recipe to me. So I won't change it.

You need:

For 15 dry red chillies use the following measure. (I used organic red chillies that were pretty spicy)

1 small cup (standard 1/2 cup measure is what i used) Split chickpeas without the seedcoat (Chana Dal)

1 small cup white Urad Dal

2 small cups (1 cup measure) White Sesame (you can even use black sesame for a deeper colour and  better flavour)

Oil (Any oil that can be heated)

Asafoetida (hing) 1/4 teaspoon or more

Salt

A powerful dry grinder to make the powder

Wash the sesame and then roast it on a heavy bottom iron wok. The reason you wash it is so that when it starts to puff up while roasting it won't jump out of the wok. Keep stirring it around to make sure it is evenly roasted. Once it starts to make that splitting sound at frequent intervals and if it has become slightly darker in colour, it's done.

In the same wok, roast the Chana Dal and the Urad Dal one after the other till they are a very light brown  colour. Mix it with the roasted sesame.

Add oil to the wok and fry the red chillies. They will start puffing up quickly. Remove the Chillies and drain as much oil as you can while removing them.

Grind everything together. I like it to be a crunchy powder, so some tiny chunks are okay by me. Some people like it as fine as possible. Add in the salt and asafoetida. Mix well and transfer it into a bottle. Let it cool completely before closing the lid. This will stay for months outside.

Some people also fry Curry Leaves and add it while powdering. It adds some colour and lovely flavour to it.

 Clockwise from right: Fried Red Chillies, Roasted Sesame, Roasted Urad Dal and Roasted Chana Dal

It goes very well with south Indian food, but sometimes I like to add it to a vegetable I am cooking. It also goes very well with vegan yogurt so you can even make it into a dip. The possibilities are endless. I, however, catch myself eating this as it is.

My freshly ground Gun Powder

It is said, whoever is cooking adds their own flavours depending on their energies. That is why the same recipe made by two people will almost never taste the same. I still haven't gotten to my grandmother's level, but this batch got her approval!

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Right Side Up Banana Cake with pour over Coffee Caramel

It's Vegan Mofo Iron Chef Challenge #2 and Isa decided to spice things up by giving us two ingredients - Banana and Coffee. One I love, the other, well... 

I eat bananas everyday - in breakfast smoothies, as an evening snack, for dessert. Recently I even made gluten free pancakes using dried banana flour. 

So it's safe to say that I could survive on bananas if it ever came to that.

Coffee, well it ends there for me. Coming from a South Indian family, coffee is a very integral part of the day and it's freshly brewed (filter coffee) every single day in all kitchens. Tamillians cannot breathe without their coffee. They start the day (6am) with a hot cup of strong coffee, have one more by 11pm may be, another at 4pm and if they really are insane, then another one after dinner. My mom never allowed us to drink coffee (and tea). It just wasn't offered to us. Her father (a doctor and a coffee addict) used to warn everyone about the dangers of coffee while drinking his daily cup of coffee. And it was well known then that children don't need the caffeine high. [I don't know how that perception has changed now and how it is okay to 'caffeinate' your child every day (a la Gatorade, Coca Cola, Tea, Coffee, the works)]

So it's safe to say that I don't like coffee.

This challenge was tricky for me. Since I was already up to my neck in cakes today, I decided I would try to make something sweet out of it. Yeah I read the challenge, brownie points for savoury stuff, I had a brainwave and I had to do it. I had 4 friends coming over, so I had an audience for feedback which was nice. Feedback I got, it's all gone!

This is a dense cake that's best served warm, but it makes a nice cold dessert too. I prefer using whole wheat flour because it makes the cake dense and fulfilling. I added chocolate because, well who doesn't love chocolate? And the pour over Coffee Caramel added some gooey quotient to it. I suggest pouring the caramel just before serving, since the flavour of coffee tends to disappear quickly. 

Right Side Up Banana Cake with pour over Coffee Caramel 

For the Caramel:

I had a previous batch of caramel sauce I'd made from this recipe. It makes the most delicious caramel sauce ever.

I brewed some coffee and mixed one part coffee to two parts caramel. This was a mild mix, good enough for me. If you like coffee, then you could use equal quantities of both.

For the cake:

Preheat oven to 175C

1 Big Ripe Banana

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 a lime

1 tablespoon water

Cut the bananas into 1/2 inch thick slices.

In a saucepan, melt the sugar and water. Once it's melted, add in the lime juice. Pour it into the baking pan and spread. Arrange the banana slices to cover the entire bottom of the pan in an overlapping fashion.

Prepare the cake mix:

1 and a 1/2 cups of Whole Wheat Flour

3/4 cup sugar or any sweetener

1/4 cup chunks of vegan chocolate

1/2 tsp Cinnamon Powder

1/2 tsp All Spice

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Corn starch

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup Soy Milk/ Water or any non dairy milk

1/4 cup oil

1 tsp vinegar

Combine wet and dry ingredients separately. Mix and fold the batter lightly. Add into the pan with the bananas and spread evenly.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Loosen the edges of the cake and invert it onto a grill. 

Slice, pour the Coffee Caramel on the cake and serve!

Mmmm Mmmm Mmmmmm!

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I ♥ Avocado

If wishes were horses, I would own a farm full of Avocado trees. I've planted two and wish they would start bearing me the damn avocados. I'm so obsessed with them that I once went six straight months in three different countries eating them at least twice a week. So it's not a surprise that this post is dedicated to my favourite fruit and I'm so going to want to eat one after writing this!

About 12 feet tall now!

Avocados are almost tasteless. I know what you're thinking, 'what an anti-climax!', right? All this for a tasteless fruit. But it's buttery like no other butter, juicy and succulent like nothing else in this world and it takes on the flavour of anything you add to it so beautifully. There are no tiny pits or seeds that you need to spit out while eating it, there is nothing in between you and that fresh, green bite of heaven.

Not many people in India know how to deal with this big green 'dinasour egg' looking fruit. Most of the people I have spoken to have said they don't like the taste of it. (But it is tasteless!) You probably just don't know when or how to eat it. I have done a post earlier about guacamole where I also go on to digress about sprouting the seed into a plant. But what do you do with the ripe light green almost-goo thats inside? How do you know when it is right? Do you know how to buy it?

Fear not, because in all my avocado (read guacamole) experiences I have some knowlegde about buying this fruit and using it effectively. Here is what you need to look out for:

1. A Dark Green (Not black) clear skin with minimum or no blemishes

2. Should be hard to slightly hard when you touch

3. Should not have fungus or damaged skin (on the top of the fruit) near where it joins the tree

4. Could be any shape or size, but is usually round like an orange or pear shaped

Where to buy it?

In Bombay, you can get it now in almost any suburban vegetable market. Usually the guys with the "fancy vegetables" like broccoli, zucchini, celery, etc. have it. But I prefer to buy it from Crawford Market.

When to buy?

Avocados are now available almost all year round. But I have heard that the ones after summer are the best. All (or most) of the avocados come from Karnataka to Bombay. Sometimes if you are lucky you will get the Pondicherry ones but I like to believe that the people in Auroville eat it all up, because that is what I did in the two months I spent there.

What to do with them?

Wait till they ripen! It is a very important phase of the fruit. So many ways to hasten the process, but the avocado will take it's own sweet time. Sometimes it can take upto two weeks, so be very patient. Let me tell you it all pays off in the end. If you cut into an unripe avocado be ready for some bitter experiences which will put you off the fruit forever. The best way to know if it is ripe is to press the fruit with a finger. If the skin gives in without too much pressure and you have made an indentation on the fruit, it is ready. You will learn from your mistakes. I have been so eager sometimes to eat the fruit that I cut it open too early and end up with a bitter taste. Sometimes the fruit is not bitter even when it is slightly unripe.

This time I was in for a surprise when I went to pick avocados from my usual vendor. The avocados were bigger than I have ever seen, even bigger than the ones in Mexico! They were literally the size of musk melons, each weighing a kilo! I was jumping inside at the thought of having a HUMONGOUS portion of Guacamole which is exactly what I did for breakfast. This fruit was so big, it made me easily one and a half kilos of guacamole which K and I polished off for breakfast one morning with some toasted bread. We were so full after that we couldn't eat lunch.

The Avocado is as big as my face!

Orange v/s Avocado

Ready for the Guac!

Everytime I buy avocados I decide I am going to try something different with at least one of them. Almost all the time they end up as guacamole because I just cannot resist temptation to eat it immediately. This time I held back and made some avocado ice cream (Yes I made something sweet again, I have cavaties remember). Depending on how big the avocado is, you blend the ripe avocado and add a sweetener with some flavouring. I made some chocolate icecream with it and served it up with some chocolate cake and chocolate ganache since the ice cream was not sweet enough. There is a lot more you could do with it also like put it in raw salads, put it inside sandwiches, burgers or tacos and even puree it to make a raw pasta sauce or mousse.

I don't know why but only when it comes to the avocado, I have no patience to try anything else with it. It's only if I have had two ripe avocados waiting to be opened on the same day will I try anything else with it. I know, I'm crazy.

All hail the Avocado.

Chocolate Avocado Ice cream with Dark Chocolate Cake

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